Thursday, November 12, 2009

Another member of the circle of artists that clustered around the neighbouring ateliers of Jean-Gabriel Daragnès and Roger Lacourière in the 1920s was Charles Martin (1884-1934). Martin was born in Montpellier, where he began his art studies before going to Paris to study at the Académie Julian and at the École des Beaux-Arts.

Charles Martin, Woman putting on her stockings

Pochoir for Manon Lescaut, 1934

Charles Martin was a significant figure in Art Deco graphics, as illustrator, poster-designer, fashion, ballet, and theatre designer, as well as contributor to fashion journals such as the Gazette du Bon Ton and the Journal des Dames et des Modes.

Charles Martin, Le baiser rendu

Pochoir for Contes et nouvelles en vers. 1930

Charles Martin’s heyday was also the highpoint of the French livre d’artiste and livre de luxe. Among the texts he illustrated with original etchings are Carmen by Prosper Merimée (173 copies published by La Roseraie, 1926), L’illusion héroïque de Tito Bassi by Henri de Regnier (291 copies published by La Roseraie, 1926), Charles de Montesquieu’s Lettres Persanes (223 copies published by Jean Terquem, 1926).

Charles Martin, La servante justifiée

Pochoir for Contes et nouvelles en vers, 1930

But Charles Martin was most active as an illustrator using the pochoir (hand-stencil) technique that was favoured by the fashion journals. Among his books illustrated with pochoir plates are

I have a copy of his Manon, and also of his Contes et nouvelles en vers of Jean de La Fontaine (Librairie de France, 1930). In the English-speaking world we think of La Fontaine as a children’s writer, the French Aesop, but his verse Contes are lightly erotic, rather in the manner of Boccaccio. This is a very lavish production but because it uses pochoirs rather than etchings, it was published in a substantial edition of 3,415 copies. There were 350 on Arches, 1500 on Lafuma, and 1500 on Alfa Navarre; these copies have the text and pochoir illustrations. The 65 remaining copies (50 on Hollande van Gelder and 15 on Japan) also had a separate suite of the 64 plates (of which 32 are in colour). I have copy XXV of the 50 on Hollande.

Charles Martin, Joconde

Pochoir for Contes et nouvelles en vers, 1930

Charles Martin, Joconde

Etching with aquatint, 1930

Also included with my copy of the Contes, but with no indication in the justification that it is supposed to be there, is a portfolio of 15 much more explicit etchings, also by Charles Martin and relating to the same subjects. These etchings are in two states: pure etchings on Japan, and etchings with aquatint, and the title etched into the plate, printed on Hollande van Gelder. The etchings are aesthetically similar to the pochoirs, but - while still relatively innocent - are intended to be more titillating. For instance, while the pochoir for La chose impossible, in which a woman outwits the Devil by challenging him to straighten out a pubic hair, shows her with her head modestly lowered and her private parts covered, the etching lifts a wild froth of petticoats aside to reveal all.

Charles Martin, La chose impossible

Pochoir for Contes et nouvelles en vers, 1930

Charles Martin, La chose impossible

Etching with aquatint, 1930

I haven’t been able to find out anything about these erotic etchings by Charles Martin. Were they included in all 65 of the special copies of Contes et nouvelles? It doesn’t appear so. It seems quite likely that Martin made these as a side-project, and they may have been published quite separately. As to how many copies were printed, and by whom, I can only guess. Roger Lacourière would be my first guess as the printer, and a total of around 65 copies would seem reasonable for the etchings (though possibly not so many of the pure etchings on Japan).

Charles Martin, Le calendrier des vieillards

Etching with aquatint, 1930

The only comparable publication I can trace by Charles Martin is his suite of erotic etchings Mascarades et amusettes, which was published sometime in the 1920s in a total of 63 copies. It was wittily naughty etchings such as these that gave rise to the seducer's catchphrase, "Come up and see my etchings."

4 comments:

Funny thing. When Martin did fashion illustration, the women got taller, thinner, more elongated like the lettering style of the 1920s. To be fair, the men did too, but, for women, it's more problematic. The colors, though, are delectable either way.